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Devil monkeys
This page is not up to date with the Sol project, and is left here as an archive/seperate spec ONLY. Devil monkeys, also known as gremlins, Satan's monkeys, Satan's servants, servants of Satan, fanged devils, and fanged monkeys, scientifically known as the Diablosidae, are omnivorous New World monkeys evolved from the cebids. They have fairly large ears and eyes, and are nocturnal. Like modern cebids, they almost never leave the trees, were they are fast, and graceful movers. Their main method of killing are two large fangs. They lived in the Caldumorbis period, and were native to South America. There diet is actually quite varied, with meat being only 65%, but the term carnivorous is used to get the point across. Description The family is generally small, with few species getting larger then most modern cebids. They are nocturnal, and therefore have large ears and eyes, used for seeing at low light levels. They don't however have good color vision,a s it isn't useful at night. Because of this they are drab in color, being mostly grey and brown, with some black species as well. There ears are large, and somewhat pointed as well, and also have slight curve, to funnel sound into the inner ear. They have long tails, as with most monkeys used for balance, but have also evolved a more acrobatic climbing style, somewhat like gibbons and indriids. Evolution At first the idea of carnivorous new world monkeys seems unlikely, the niche is already filled, but it's their interesting evolutionary path that led to this "fate." When the rainforests spread south, cebids where some of the first to colonize the new land, in the south, the niche for arboreal predator was open, and they exploited that niche. This prevented the northern predators from spreading south, but also trapped the diablosids in the south. However some species successfully spread north, by switching to an even more omnivorous diet. These were the last of the diablosids, coming to their eventual doom when the forest declined in the south, and the northern species went extinct only just before the Northern forest disappeared. The reason for the extinction of the last of them is unknown, as Northern forests where not yet in decline. Behavior Despite their name and reputation, they aren't vary aggressive, and sometimes quite playful. They live in small groups, without much apparent ranking systems. These groups will travel from place to place, without defined territories. These groups are generally made up of three to seven individual, usually somewhere in-between. Parental care Like most mammals, they exhibit much parental care, taking care of babies for at least three years, and only giving birth every several years, which may have led to their eventual doom, combined with general small range for every individual specie. Courtship As stated above, groups have little in the way of ranking systems, and all males mate. This doesn't happen at a certain time of year, instead happening when the young no longer need their mothers protection. They are quite intelligent and will share food with members of the group, the favor is usually remembered, and the females are more likely to mate with males that share with them, similar to chimps. Diet One of the most interesting aspects of devil monkeys is their diet, being omnivorous, with percentages of meat varying greatly between species, some having as little s 40% of their diet being meat, others up to 70%. Despite this, they still eat much fruit, and other plant material, being omnivores, not obligate carnivores. They generally target small prey, rarely tackling pray as large as themselves, using speed, maneuverability, and acrobatics to catch their prey. Ecology They are important predators in the south, particularly larger species, but also function as omnivores. They have a less prominent to non-existent role in the north, depending on the time, they didn't spread to the north till near the end of their existence. Category:Sol Category:Future animals